China's spacecraft has entered orbit around Mars following a 500-million-km journey from Earth that started seven months ago. Tianwen-1 – which consists of an orbiter, lander and rover – completed its journey just before 1PM GMT on Wednesday as it entered orbit around the Red Planet. If the rover is deployed successfully in May, it will make China the first country to orbit, land and deploy a rover on its first mission to Mars. Tianwen-1 entered Mars orbit less than 24 hours after the United Arab Emirates', Hope probe, which entered Mars orbit at around 16:15 GMT on Tuesday. The United Arab Emirates' orbiter successfully entered Mars orbit on Tuesday, February 9.

Source: The Nation February 10, 2021 19:41 UTC